A PVFS customer email - with staff response.

Question:

I have made a raised bed garden past month.  The soil needs preparing for Spring.  What do you recommend?  I would like to get something planted down to get some nitrogen fixation and to make the soil more loamy.  I live near Pasadena and the soil in the raised beds is more sandy with little clay component.  I am currently growing several fruit trees in the center of each raised bed.  Plenty of .

thoughts?  I do have plenty of Azomite, sun and non-chlorinated mountain water for irrigation

Answer:

Our most popular cover crop is called the Soil Builder mix.  It’s a mix of vetches, peas, bell beans, and oats.  It provides a lot of growth for organic matter and fixes a lot of nitrogen, especially when you use an inoculant.  The part number is SCM120, the inoculant is ISE350.

Since you have trees in the beds, be careful when incorporating the cover crop into the soil in the spring.  You might consider not tilling in the crop inside of the drip line of the trees, but pull it out and compost it instead.  Outside of the drip line, you can dig in the crop manually or with a rototiller.  Wait 4-6 weeks after incorporation to plant anything in the beds.

Hope that helps! Thank you for growing organically!

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